Evening Star Newspaper, December 4, 1927, Page 63

U. S. CONSULS MUST PAY TO ENTERTAIN TOURISTS ‘Allowance Fund for Nation’s Representatives Abroad Urged—Naval Officers Also Heavily Taxed. BY WILLIAM RUFUS SCOTT. IX world cruises this Winter will scatter American tourists over the face of the earth, while 12 scheduled Mediterra- nean, 19 West Indies, 4 South American and other cruises will take other Americans to special spots on the globe. Al of which is introductory to the Lurden this wave of tourists places upon American Ambassadors, Minis- ters, consuls and other official repre- sentatives abroad. These United States foreign service men must pay out of their own pockets anything they spend for the entertainment of Americans whom they feel obligated to or are called upon to entertain. A round-the-world ship of tourists arrives at Singapore, for instance. It will have from 400 upward on hoard. Among them probably will he some with letters to the United States consul in that port, and otl ers will call upon him for favo: simply because they think of him an official handy man. These calls may mean expenditures by the con- sul. If so, the American Government makes no allowance for it. Guarded by Aides. The same is true if the touvist en- ters a capital where an American Ambassador or Minister is statione Here a barrier of secretaries will ward off some of the demands upon the time and purse of the envoy, but some visitors are too important to he headed off and the expense mounts in entertainments. If the envoy, or a consul, invites a touring American to luncheon or dinner, to have a drink, or take a motor ride, zo to the theater or what not, the cost of it comes out of the official's salary: or out of his savings, as avies often do mot cover living e penses of our official representatives abroad. y This is why only rich men as a rule want ambassadorships to Euro- pean capitals. The gradual acquisi- tion by the United States, through gifts and purchase, of ambassadorial .nd ministerial residences in foreign capitals is relieving our envoys of some of the heavy financial burden, but still no entertainment expense fund is provided—and the burdensome part of this expense always is for en- tertaining’ persons whom the envoys or consuls have no personal reason for entertaining. There are four broad currents of American travelers sweeping through foreign countries, namely, tourists, commercial agents, naval and military men and politicians. A brief survey of each of these groups will show what demands they make upon our repre- sentatives. Tourists Lead List. The tourists are by far the most numerous. The scope of demands they will make give no end of trouble, and expense, to the envoys or consuls. In Europe the appeals may be less than in some Far Eastern city, for tourists have many facilities in Eu- rope they do not have in other con- tinents, and so may mot run to the consul or envoy so often. But in the number will be some who convey the implication of expected hospitality. Commercial agents call upon the consuls upon arriving in a foreign city. seeking orders for American-made ®oods, and are expected to do so, for the consul is the official link between the trade dealings of the two nations. The consul at the luneh hour canno! nor does he feel inclined to, sa; “Come back after lunch and we will renew our conversation.” He invites the visiting salesman to lunch at the a thousand American tourists this ‘Winter. The American consul will have to be host to that crowd. In China, Malaya, India, Africa, South America, Japan, Panama, Europe and all other quarters of the globe the tourists are appearing and will ap- pear. The act of May 24, 1924, should be broadened. It would seem that much support would be found In Congress to pro- vide an entertainment expense fund for our foreign representatives, or “representation allowance,” as the fund is called in the law, since so {many membe; of Congress have been beneficiaries of entertainment given by consuls and envoys. Not all may have known that the indi- vidual consuls and envoys had to bear the cost of the entertainment. But most members of Congress, ex- pecting to continue to travel, will see the injustice of imposing ex- penses upon other officers of the Gov- ernment without ‘compensating them. Survey Proposed. | Representative Frederick M. Dav- enport of New York has proposed a survey of the Department of State with the view of giving it larger ap- | propriations as a means of promoting peace in the world. The department he holds should be able to cable more complete information about American affairs to our representatives abroad, so they may have correct data with which to meet criticism of the United States. That is only one way in which he finds the department cramped for funds, Allowances to all representa- tives for legitimate entertainment ex- penses no doubt will be given sympa- thetic consideration in any survey of the department. Citing Singapore, as all six of the world cruises will touch that port, the consul there cannot avoid being hospitable to the tourists, nor does he or other American consuls wish to avoid it, even while depleting their bank accounts. During 1927 one Far Eastern city had four world cruisers | in port, one United States Senator and two or more Representatives; the usual heavy contingent of commercial agents, for Singapore gets about $400,- 000,000 a year of American gold for rubber, tin and other products; and visits by our naval vessels. Besides, one American steamship line now maintains a round-the-world service which puts a ship with tourists into Singapore every two weeks through- out the year, and to many other ports along the globe-girdling route. The 1928 travel will be heavier from all in- dications, and the consuls’ entertain- ment expenses heavier in consequence. The topmost salary of a consul is $9,000 a year. The salaries range downward to $3,000 a year. No pre- tense is made by the Department of State that Americans can be com- pensated for their services in the con- sular branch as they would be in private industry for equal abilities. “The rewards of the foreign serv- ice are not merely monetary,” the prospective consul is told. The ap- peal, however, is not to those who seek only material gain. The foreign service offers instead the cultural ad- vantages of foreign travel, active con- tact with leaders in other lands, and the opportunity of distinguished patri- otic achievement.” There are some retirement fund provisions which lift partially the specter of old age with. out resources if the consul has not been able to save much out of his salary. Some idea of the increase in tour- ist travel and travel for all other reasons may be gained from statis- tics on passports issued by the De- partment of State. In 1913, the last club maintained by the foreign colony and he pays for it out of his own purse. This is an_ all-the-year-round expense, whereas the tourist usually has seasons when he appears. When an American naval vessel appears at a foreign port—and some units.of our Navy are visiting some- where.all the time—it means heavier outlay for the consuls. The mayor, or governor, of the port entertains for the visiting Americans and the consul and American colony must do *0, and repay the foreign hospitality. In one Mediterranean port a year or %0 ago, there were four naval visits in one year, which all but bankrupted the consul and American colony. Not a penny of this expense is borne by the United States. Fourth, the American office holder or politician comes along. If he is a member of Congress, there is every reason why the consul must pay spe- -ial attention to his entertainment. Or if he is influential in politics with- wut being an office holder, he must be ziven every attention. And since wmembers of Congress are much given to traveling, the expense is being felt more and more. Sometimes the Sen- ators or Representatives come in varties on official tours paid for by the Government. At other times, they are traveling “on their own,” but in either instance the consul or * expensive hospitality When it is remembered that, aside normal year before the World War, the total was 23,463. In 1927 the total will run close to 190,000! The number in 1926 was 176,033. These figures do not by any means Indicate the total number of Ameri- cans going to foreign countries, A passport is good for two years and thousands of Americans go to Europe or elsewhere abroad several times in that period. Moreover, a passport may cover several members of the same family. Nearly 300,000 tourists or travelers on various missions will have gone from the United States: in 1927. It has been estimated that they spend abroad. that is in Europe alone, more than $500,000,000 in one year. Travel More Cheaply. ‘The cheap tourist cabin rates have given a spurt to travel in the last three years. Students, teachers, salaried people in the medium in- come grades now may visit ‘Europe for as low as $170 for the round trip, or even cheaper if they will accept more limited accommodations. The THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. €., DECEMBER 4, Note.—In the thirteenth “Story of Civilization.” to be Sunday. Dr. Durant will write of the Human. The Greek Stage. TAND under the southern portico of the Parthenon and look down from the Acropolis to the sea. The blue JEgean lies some eight miles away, smiling complacent- ly under the sun. On that island across the bay King Xerxes sat, and in those waters, so quiet now, the ireeks rewon their liberties. Nearer is the Piraeus, with its shipping, like toy boats on a lake; closer still the road which was once walled in from the city to the port, and at the bot- tom of the hill the modest homes and narrow streets of Athens. But here at our feet, rising from the leveb below almost to where we stand, is one of the great places in human history. It is the Theater of Diony- sus, where every year, with drama, festival and song, the Greeks com- memorated their joyous and suffering god. Thirty thousand seats, once of wood, then of marble and stone, range themselves in long half circles, row upon row, narrowing down at the base of the Acropolis to meet the stage. In these carved and ornamented seats at the front the officials of the city sat and the priests of Dionysus. This plain semi-circular space, paved with great slabs, was the stage itself. At the rear was the actors’ booth—the skene or “scene.” Its front might be transformed to represent a temple or a palace and its roof supported a strange contrivance of pulley and crane, designed to let down, as from heaven, the deus ex machina (the god from the machine), whose intervention was used by pious—or lazy—drama- tists to unite their knotted plots. Oth- erwise the stage and the seats lay open to the sky. No rain was to be feared in the season of festival, every breeze was welcome and the stars were sufficient cove:!n% installment of his fe' published next ‘Euripides * % To reach 30,000 Athenians, rising tier on tier against the hill, con- siderable voice was necessary. There- fore the actors, even of the women's parts, were always men; a special shoe, the cothurnus, gave them added height, and the masks they wore, besides making their roles distin- guishable from afar, gave resonance and carriage to their speech. Dramatis personae originally meant the “masks of the drama” (per-sonare, to speak through). Actors, dramatists, chorus and musicians were organized in a union called the “Artists of Dionysus.” Their profession was far better hon- ored than in medieval or modern Europe; they were exempt from mil- attraction this has is shown by the fact that May invariably is the larg- est month for issuance of passports, ccming just before schools close in June. In May, 1913, 3,864 passports were issued, while in May 1927, 32,863 were issued, or more than eight times as many as in 1913. In any one of the months of April, May and June, 1927, more passports were ;.;l;‘ed than for the entire year of from visiting Americans, the con- suls and envoys must maintain & high social status throughout the vear in the city in which they are stationed, involving entertainment of Jocal officlals and citizens who have heen hospitable to the American rep- resentatives, it can be seen that taking a position in the foreign serv- ire does not mean an opportunity to save money against a rainy day. A consul often must own an automo- bile. . If so, he buys it out of his sal- ary, He cannot avoid social con- tacts with the leading officials and citizens of any given foreign city, and this means evening clothes for himself and wife and the obligation of- giving official dinners, receptions and entertainments. Great Britain and other govern ments do not neglect to provide en- tertainment allowances for their rep- resentatives. In mentioning _ the visits of American naval vessels to foreign ports, it should be stated paren- thetically that our naval officers (L Jlow the rank of commander of a fleét) are as bad off as our consuls and envoys, for these officers have 1o pay the cost of any entertainment they provide in return to mayors and governors who entertain them. Ad- miral William Sims testified elo- quently before congressional com- mittee several years ago of the finan- cial hardship on naval officers, and pointed out that Great Rritain pro- vided its naval officers with an al- Jowance for such voidable ex penses, incurred in line of duty. Appropriation Made. Congress has gone so far as to recognize the need of such allow- anges by authorizing appropriations for- ambassadors or ministers, and for consuls who may be in foreign capitals where we have'no envoy, but the. other consuls. of whom an over- whaelming majority are not in capi- +alg, do not benefit by the authoriza- won. However, the authority to make even this limited appropria- 1ion for expense funds has never been used by Congress, for no ap- propriations have been made. and the envoys and a few favored consuls have not benefited by the gesture of liberality. The relief, if finally granted in an Nothing but hard times in the United States will stem this flood of tourists. The Winter months are showing a consistent gain in travel as indicated by the increased number of world and special cruises this Winter over any other Winter. By special cruises is meant steamships which are set aside for a specific tour. Of course any number . of Americans travel in the regular safl- ings of ships, sometimes in small onducted parties, often without any guidance of that kind. The abound- ing wealth of America and the greater sophistication of thousands as travelers is causing them to seek out-of-way places for novelty tours. Thus no American consul is so re- mote now that he does not expect tourists. It may be Riga, far up on the Baltic in Latvia, or Cape Town, at the tip end of Africa, or Manila, or Seoul in Korea, or Penang, in the Malay Peninsula, and so on. The travel to South America and South Africa is three or four times as heavy this year as it was two or three years ago. Geneva Is Popular. Then something like the League of Nations creates a special tourist inter- est in a town otherwise not specially marked such as Geneva, Switzerland. | Here thousands of Americans go each i vear especially in September, when the League is in session, and the con- sul there has his duties as host cor- { respondingly increased. More Amer- licans are going now to The Hague, | Holland, where the World Court has its seat. One noted American financier on a {world cruise last Winter was shown some courtesies by o consul in a Far Eastern city. At the end of a two or three day stop there, this financier in a casual way learned that whatever the consul had spent would be the consul's own expense, and he declared | o, associates on the ‘tour that he in- tended to do what he could on his re- jturn to America to induce Congress to grant expense funds to consuls. He had nu need of entertainment by a | consul, but in the ordinary course of ! social contacts it is unavoidable for a | consul to stand his part of the treats, whatever the treats may be, and not necessurily using the word treats in appropriation, will not be adequate I view of the demands made upon all consuls, regardless of their loca- tion, ehip will unload several hundred o1 a drinking sense. Doubtless the same idea is dawning upon other tourists {and public support for a fair expense allowance will be mor evident than Out in Java, a world cruising might be supposed by « far-off consul struggling with his personal budget. s L] itary service, and were allowed safe passage through the lines in time of war. It was an honor, not a dis- grace, to play a part upon the stage, and so give life and action to a philosophy. Almost as important as the actors were the members of the chorus; before Sophocles it dominated the scene. Indeed, the majority of Greek plays were named from the chorus: Suppliants, Persian Women, Trojan ‘Women, Choephori, Eumenides, Bac- chae, Wasps, Frogs. The chorus served partly as a vehicle for the poet’s interpretations, explanations and views, and partly as a convenient vocal curtain between the episodes of the play. Their lines were chanted to the accompaniment of a single flute. Often they interspersed their songs with dance; and so the stage was called an “orchestra” (orcheomai, I dance). Most of the expense of an Athenian dramatic production lay in the training of the chorus; usually some wealthy citizen had here to come to the rescue of the state. Plutarch tells us that the representation- of six plays cost Athens more than ‘tiie war against Persia—presumably *ex- cluding the sack'of the capital. There was an admission charge of 6 cents: but many people could not afford =o high a price, and Pericles made him- self popular by arranging for the practically free admission of the poor. The audience was highly heteroge- neous: men, boys and women (of a The plays of Aeschylus and Sophocles were rich The Story of Civilization blood and horror. certain class), freemen and slaves. En- thusiasts came the night before to stand in line for the better seats; they attached as much importance to the drama as we attach to professional games. But their behavior was not above that of a bleacher congregation. They hissed as readily as they ap- plauded, they kicked the seats with their heels as a mode of dramatic criticism, and in general they made more nroise than Plato liked. They ate nuts and fruit as they listened; and it seemed to Aristole that the failure ot a play might be judged from the ex- ceptional quantity of food eaten by the crowd. Those who could afford it supplied food to the actors, too, when the play was particularly un- satistactory; so that a bad play was a good means of collecting pro- visions. But along with figs and olives would sometimes come sharp stones; Aschines was almost ’stoned to death for a poor play. Dramatists came to guard against such showers by installing claqueurs at stratemic points; at times they threw nuts to the audience as a bribe to peace. ¥re- quently the crowd took active control: it threatened the life of ASschylus for apparently revealing one of the Eleusinian “mysteries”; it occasionally stampeded the judges into awarding the state prize not to the best but to the most popular play, and once it re- fused to permit a play of Euripides to continue until the old dramatist had suavely apologized for an irreverent line. Lo What they had above all was en- durance. On each of three successive days they listened to four perform- ances—three tragedies and one coi edy; it was in such groups that rival dramatists usually submitted their plays. Picture a modern audience, restless and yawning, trying to hear four dramas at a sitting; only in Bayreuth is it conceivable. It is true that the audience now and then com- pelled the abandonment of a play that bored them, and clamored for the next; it was a summary method of abbreviating a windy program. But sometimes, too, they called for the repetition of passages that pleased them; and story has it that Socrates once ‘applauded so persistently as to win an encore for the opening lines of a play by his friend Euripides. Probably no dramatists in later his- tory have ever played to so vast and intelligent an audience. The triumph of the Greeks at Marathon and Sala- mis had stimulated thought as well as trade and had given the Athenians a boundless confidence and a lively pride. “You have never considered what manner of men these Athenians are,” wrote their greatest historian, Thueydides. ‘“They are revolutionary, equally quick in the conception' and the execution of every new plan; they are bold beyond their strength; they run risks which prudent people would condemn, and in_the midst of misfor. tune they are full of hope. * * “Ehey are alwaysabroad. * * * Their bodies they devote to their country.as though they belonged to other men; their true selves are their minds.” It was this audience and this en- vironment that stimulated the creative genius of Athens and produced in the Greek drama the greatest contribution ever made to the literature of Europe. * ok Kk K ZEschylus. It was religion that suggested drama and AEschylus who invented it. We have seen it potential in the fes. tive processions of the Dionysian cult. The song and dance of the worship- ers generated the chorus and the cho- rus generated the play. Legend tells how Thespis, taward the end of the sixth century before Christ, se- lected a_member of the chorus to act a special role in the religious or myth- ical story which formed the theme of the choral song. Bschylus added a second actor as foil to the first, and so visualized that conflict of wills which is the essence of drama. . The “Father of Tragedy” ias born at Eleusis in 525 B. C. At 35 he fought in the battle of Marathon and saw his brother seriously wounded at his side. ‘When Aschylus died he chose for his epitaph not his achievements in drama but his bravery in war. e neath this stone lies Alschylus; ¢ ¢ ¢ of his noble prowess the grove of Marathon can speak, or the long- haired Persian, who knows it well.” He had submitted plafs nine years before Marathon; but not till he was 41 did he win a prize; success is the grandchild of failure. Thereafter he ained 12 victories, one every second year. ' All ‘in all, he wrote some 90 plays, of which seven remain. “His- tory,” as Bacon said, “is the planks of a shipwreck.” Many of them as their author phrased it, are “slices from the great banquet of Homer,” epilogues to the great tale of Troy. Thrre of them constitute the ““Oresteja” trilogy, which Gilbert Murray has rated as “the highest achievement of Alschylus, and probably of all Greek drama,” while' John Addington Sy- monds considered it the greatest work in all literature. * ok ok ok The first play of the trilogy, named after Agamemnon, begins where Homer left off: Troy has been taken, and the victorious King is returning home. He is awaited rather anxiously by his wife, Clytemnestra; for this Greek premonition of Lady Macbeth has declared a moratorium on mo- nogamy in his absence, and has taken Egisthus as a temporary husband. When her conscience complains she 9 1927—-PART BY WILL DURANT, Ph. D., Author of “The Story of Philosophy.” reminds it how Agamemnon sacrificed her daughter and his, the gentle Iphigenia, to buy fmf\ the gods a lit- tle breeze that might waft his ships to Troy. Dreading the vengeance of the King, she lures him with soft speech into an inner chamber and buries a dagger in his_ heart. Even across the centuries and through the disturbing medium of translation, the Agamem.ion moves us; if we could see it acted as the Athenians did we might understand the famous remark of Aristotle, that “tragedy effects through pity and ter- ror a purgation of these passions in the hearts of the spectators.” It is true that our modern haste, our nervous activity and our moral skep- ticism have spoiled us for the long speeches of Alschylus, his choral lucu- brations and Shelleyan abstractions and presidential platitudes; we do not care for murderers who lecture as they kill. But there are compensa- tions. e Here, for example, is our first taste of that sense of fate which darkens and deepens the drama of the Greeks. Tragedy, in the theory of ASschylus and his countrymen, begini with hybris—presumptuous insolence, some shameless violation of human decency. Zeus (or, in Napoleon’s phrase, the “nature of things”) brings retributive justice to every crime and to all ex- cess; meden agan (nothing to» much) is the lesson of Greek drama as well as of Greek sculpture and Greek phi- losophy. And this solemn sense of in- * | escapable retribution gives a dignity to Attic drama which seldom comes to the modern theater. * Xk ¥ ¥ The pursuing Furies that avenge all guilt weave many acts, and many plays, and many generations into one web of crime and inevitable expiation. Tantalus, insolent with wealth, steals the nectar and ambrosia of the gods and gives them to Pelops to eat; Pelops, his son, slays the offspring of Hermes; Niobe, his daughter, proud of her 12 children, sees them turned into stone, and herself becomes a symbol of sorrow and a monument to grief; Atreus, Pelops’ son, comes upon his wife in adultery with his brother Thyestes, Kkills ~Thyestes’ children and serves them up to him at a banquet; his son Agamemnon kills his own daughter to advance a commercial war; Orestes, son of Agamemnon, kills his mother for murdering his father. No story of crime was ever richer in horror and blood; no Jewish prophet or Hindu sage, preaching the coming of Karma or Jehovah’s wrath, could better the moral of the tale. We catch a glimpse in it of the barbarism that never completely died among the Greeks, the hate and cruelty and intolerance that for a time incarna- dined the world. Far nobler is the earlier master- plede of Aischylus, the Prometheus Bound; here we rise from a local to a universal theme, from a narrative of primitive horror to a symbolism that reaches into the very heart of the human tragedy. The hero of the play, so loved by Goethe and Shelley, was honored in Hellenic legend as the discoverer of.fire and the con- sequent _initiator of Greek civiliza- tion. In a remarkable passage Prometheus (i.e., the fore-knower and teacher) tells how he brought civiliza- tion to mankind; to this day, as Prof. Osborn says, it is a fairly accurate description of the origins of human culture: List to the deeds I did for mortals; how, being fools before, I made them wise and true in aim of soul. 2 And let me-tell you—not'as taunt- ing_men, But teaching you the intention of . my gifts— How, first beholding, they beheld in vain, And, hearing, heard not, but, like shapes in .dreams, Mixed all things wildly down the tedious time, —_— (Continued on Sixteenth Page.) ~ The Story the Week Has 'Tolld‘ BY HENRY W. BUNN. HE following is a brief sum- mary of the most important news of the world for the seven days ended December 3: The British Empire.—We are . in- formed that the Communist party of Great Britain has only 7,377 members, of whom 2,300 are in South Wales, 1,500 in Scotland, 1,321 in London, 544 in Manchester and 104 in Liverpool. The membership of the British trade unions totals between 4,000,000 and 5,000,000. Sir Edward Grigg, Governor of Kenya, s, or recently was, in Lon- don, not on vacation but for consulta- tion with Col. Amery, the colonial secretary. For Kenya's famous “color problem™ is again in a most acute phase. Kenya is a crow: colony on the eastern coast of Africa north of Tan- ganylka territory and south of Abys. sinia, Itsarea is 243,000 square miles, its population about 2,650,000. Of these 12,500 are ‘‘whites,” 27,000 In- dians (from British India), 10,000 Arabs and the rest black natives. I put “whites” in quotation marks, be- cause the Arabs are dark-whites and the Indians more or less so. The white planters, I take it, wish to ex- ploit the country to their very par- ticular advantage in the old way (no doubt with considerable mitigations, but still “exploitation” is the word). They propose to run the show not only as regards the natives, but also as regards the Indians and the Arals. The Governor of Kenya, appointed by the crown, is assisted by a legis- lative council consisting of 11 elected whites, § elected Indians, 1 elected Arab, 1 member nominated by the governor especially to represent the natives and, in addition, “sufficient nominated official members to insure an official majority.” It's this addi- tion that sticks in the crops of the white planters, that thwarts their plans, so much so that * ’tis said they threaten secession from the empire.” The attitude of the present British government is the same as that set forth by the government in 1923, as follows: “In the administration of Kenya the government regards itself as ex- ercising a trust in behalf of the Afri- can population, and it is unable to delegate or share this trust, the ob- ject of which may be defined as the protection and advancement of the native races. This paramount duty of trusteeship will continue, as in the past, to be carried out under a secre- tary of state for the colonies by agents of ‘the imperial, government and by them alone.” The problem is a very pretty one, and the manner of dealing with it of high significance for the empire. In the statement quoted above there is delicate omission of reference to the British government's trusteeship of the rights of his Britannic majesty’s Indian subjects. Shortly after the statement was issued the government somewhat backed down to the Kenya “whites” in respect of certain claims advanced by the Indian immigrants in Kenya. It is not clear whether the present difficulty relates to such claims or to the rights of the natives. There is in Kenya a plat district of 15,000 acres which, though on the Equator, is suited for habitation by light whites. The colony is self-sup- porting and has a balanced budget. Its chief exports are coffec (of excel- lent quality), maize and hides. A rail- road runs from. Mombasa, the chief port, some 500 miles to Lake Victoria, and there are sundry branch lnes. A motor road runs north from the cap- ital, Nairobi, to the Sudan and south to Tanganyika. The chief economic difficulty 15 that the native population is insufficient for intensive cultivation both of the Europeans’ farms and of the native reserves. The ‘whites” feel that the natives are selfish in that they are more interested in the latter than in the former. A British parli- amentary commission, after a visit of careful inspection, humerously hit the ndil on the head by dubbing the Lu- ropean planters “pioneers in a hurry.” Mombasa has a romantic history in which Persians, Arabs, Portuguese and British figure. In the palmy days of Chinese navigation it was the most distant port of call for Chinese junks. A body known as the “Indian Statutory Commission,” headed by the eminent Liberal wyer, Sir John Simon, will sail £6r India in January to study the working of the “Dyarchy” system and report and recommend. * kK * Belgium.—A good deal of doubt is felt as to the prospect of long life of the new Jaspar cabinet of Belgium. To be sure, it has the support of all the groups in Parliament except the Socialists, but even so its margin is precarious. The late government of the National Union, headed by Jaspar, and representative of all the groups. felt this, because of the Socialists’ in- transigence insistence on drastic re- duction of the term of service with the colors, Tt was formed to insure solid nation- wide support of the drastic policy looking to fiscal and financial salva- tion; its task in that kind was not completed. Unfortunately the Social- ists could no longer restrain their spirit of faction, could no longer post- pone party to patria. The military issue should not have been allowed to prejudice the fiscal and financial program. * ok ok K Russia.—For many weeks rumors have been rife importing widespread insurrection in the Ukraine—rumors which Moscow has been at suspi- ciously elaborate pains to contradict. The general truth thereof now seems to have been fairly established. Some accounts aver that the uprisings, though numerous, widespread and fierce, not bheing co-ordinated, have been completely suppressed. Accord- ing to other accounts the uprisings continue on an ever-increasing scale, more and rnore menacingly to Musco- vite supremacy. There is reason to believe that both sides have conduct- ed operations with a ferocity and unnecessary spilling of blood in keep- ing_ with the noblest traditions of mother Russia. * ok Kk ¥ Morocco.—Mulay Mohammed Ben Yussef Ben Hassan, the new Sultan of Morocco, is only 14 years of ago. ‘Why he should have been elevated over the heads of two older brothers, one aged 19, one 15, does not precisely appear. Formally the election was in accordance with immemorial customs by a college of native dignitaries. Actually one supposes the choice cor- responded with the wishes of the French authorities. Mulay Yussef, who died at tho early age of 45, was a perfectly satisfactory Sultan the Frénch point of view. * ok ok United States of America.—Of the many matters calling for legislative action by the new Congress, the fol- lowing are. perbaps, the most im- portant: Flood control, agricultural relief, tax reduction considered in rela- tion to reduction of the public debt, rallroad consolidation, immigration, naval construction, the merchant marine, internal waterways, including Mr. Hoover's Mississippi system and the project of a channel for ocean- going craft from the Great Lakes to the sea; the Boulder Dam and Muscle Shoals problem and the disposition of seized enemy private property. With 237 Republicans, 195 Demo- crats, 2 Farmer-Laborites and 1 Socialist in the new House, the Re- publican majority therein will be 39, as against the Republican majority of 69 in the previous House. With Senators-elect Vare of Pennsylvania and Frank L. Smith seated, the new Senate would be made up of 48 Re- publicans, 47 Democrats and 1 Farmer- Laborite (Shipstead of Minnesota). With Senators-elect Vare and Smith excluded, the Senate would be made up of 47 Democrats, 46 Republicans and 1 Farmer-Laborite. The above fig- ures do not include Vice President Dawes, who in case of a tie would have the deciding vote. * % ok ok The League.—The League of Nations prepatory disarmament commission met again at Geneva on Wednesday to resume its extremely difficult task of making preparations carrying promise of success for a general dis- armament conference. The grand question is, “Should security or should disarmament take precedence?” “Se- curity, by all means,” say a group headed by the French. “Disarmament, of course,” retort a smaller group in which the Germans have been most prominent, The latter group is strengthened by the adhesion thereto of the Russian delegation, headed by Litvinoff, newly added to the commission, but not sufii- ciently so. The session had scarcely opened when, bursting with buncombe and bosh, M. Litvinoft proposed im- mediate abolition of all land, sea and air forces, destruction of all fortifica- tions and warships, of all war material of whatever sort, and an end to mili- tary training. It was so evident that only by a considerable effort of courtesy did his hearers refrain from laughter at this plece of propagandish nonsense that M. Litvinoff made no demur to a motion that consideration of his proposal be indefinitaly post- poned. A security committee, subordinate to the commission, was formed as re- solved by the last Assembly. It is thought that the commission will soon adjourn, the date of its reassembling to be fixed with reference to expec- ‘tation of a report from the security committee, which has gone briskly to work. Litvinov declined Russian mem- bership in the committee, but was will- ing that a Russian should be attached as “‘observer,” Hugh R. Wilson, the representative of our Government on the preparatory commission, an- nounced that our Government was unwilling to be represented on the rom committee, but he agreed to forward by cable to Washington a cordial in- vitation to attach an ‘“observer.” Washington, however, promptly de.' clined. S 4 Having in mind Litvinov's silly pro- posal, Briand observed to the French Chamber as follows: “At Geneva we are being asked to renounce the whole of our-armed forces. But who is going to assure us that all are going to lay down arms simultaneously? If in re- ply to this invitation, the sincerely pacific nations threw down their arms, would the others also? Of necessity there must be close combination tween security and disarmament,” The present indication is that the Polish-Lithuanian controversy will be the chief business dealt with by the League Council at its session com- mencing December 6. For impudence it would be difficult to match the note of Moscow to.Warsaw in that con- nection. Warsaw showed good sense in allowing complete freedom of action to the Council in the effort to find a solution of the vexatious problem. * K ok ok Miscellaneous.—It is reported that at least the French and Italian gov- ernments have reached definite agree- ment respecting the so-long-ago pro- posed construction of a tunnel under Mont Blanc to be 14,500 yards long and to shorten the time by express train from Paris to Milan or Rome by at least three hours. The Franco-Jugoslav treaty signed on November 11 is of the same mild complexion as the treaties now of some age between France and Czechoslo- vakia and France and Rumania. Mus- solini was not justified in taking of- fense thereat, but take offense he did. and manifested the same rather child- ishly by way of ‘a new twenty-year treatly between Italy and Albania of the most binding sort. Dr. Maniu, head of the Nationul Peasants’ party of Rumania, continucs intransigent, retusing to participate in a coalition cabinet and demanding im- mediate dissolution of Parliament, to be followed at once by honestly con- ducted general elections. The Polish Parliament has been dis- solved. It is thought that general elections will be held in February. Reports from Nanking claim im- portant victories for the forces of the Nanking government and its ally, Gen, Feng Yu Hslang, in the Provinces of Honan, Anhwei and Kiangsu, against Gen. Chang Tsung Chang and Gen. Sun Chuan Feng. One hears with proper emotion that Gen. Chang Tsung Chang has been wounded in the leg and confesses to a stomach full of fighting. A census just completed shows the population of Mexico as 14,325,000. The two-hundredth volume of the Loeb Classical Library has just been published. We have here one of the most noble. enterprises of our. age. Each volume consists of a Greek or Latin text with English translation, the original and the translation run- ning side by side. With scarcely an exception the editing of the original is adequate, most of the translations are satisfactory, some of them superb. The format is charming. One hears without surprise that the backer: of the enterprise, Mr. James Loeb, has lost ‘& pretty penny. and one fondly hopes that he can afford to keep on losing until the series shall include everything of Greek or Latin worth preserving. Was ever money more pleasantly lost? ¥ BOLSHEVISM, Misery a " BY FRANK H. SIMONDS. ARIS.—Just as Europe has ob- served three anniversaries of war and revolution and has taken an accounting of peace credits and war debits, with an optimistic forecast, the calm of all Eu- rope is broken by new challenges from Moscow. ‘The allied nations celébrated the ninth anniversary of the armistice. Italy celebrated the fifth anniversary of the march on Rome. Moscow cele- brated the tenth anniversary of the Bolshevist revolution. Of the three anniversaries, Russia’s attracted most attention, and as if by common consent Europe paused to re- flect upon the effect on the world of bolshevism. Bolshevism on Wane. And after pausing it concluded that bolshevism is dying, that the prom- ised world revolution has not come off, with no present reason to fear that it will—and that, without unforeseen developments, the “red menace” re- mains now only as a nuisance. But the ‘“‘unforeseen” begins to happen. Moscow warns Poland that Russia will not stand by if Poland tries to swallow Lithuania. Thus Russia re-enters the European politi- cal _scene. European commentators, analyzing Russia today, agree that Red control within Russia is too firmly established for successful foreign challenge and that the greatest challenge to bol- shevism is at home. At home the real danger to the bol- shevists proceeds today from the di- rection of the peasant. Perforce, and with profound regret, the bolshevists were compelled to bestow the land upon the peasant. It was the single course which saved the revolution at the outset. Obtaining the land, the peasants were united against any at- tempt to restore Czarist control. Look for State Aid. Once in possession of the land, too, the peasants inevitably looked to the state to enable them to market their produce, to enable them to exchange what they raised for clothes, to sup- ply farm machinery, to provide roads and railways and communications. In a word, they looked to the state to furnish all those things which are the ordinary circumstances of a capi- talistic system. And all of these things have been lacking. The balance .between price of farm products and manufactured articles has been destroyed. The peas- ant not only has to pay fabulous prices for what he can buy, but, in fact, he can buy little at any price. Literally, as figuratively, the Com- munist regime cannot deliver the goods, and as a consequence the peas- ant will not produce the food. There are 140,000,000 peasants against less than 1,000,000 bolshevists. Little by little the peasants are be- coming politically active, if only for economic reasons. The break between the city and the country is becoming accentuated, and it discloses its con- sequences in the break within the ranks of the bolshevists. Trotsky and MAKES LAST {Russia Turns to Foreign Affairs in Des- perate Effort to Distract From ON WANE, CHALLENGE- R /3 a0 t Home. new convulsion at home, and to do this it turns the attention of the coun-, try toward real or fancied foreigm: perils—the present difficulty With P¢-% land. the conference at Geneva. . . .«'si Menace Dwindles. 2 At the samef time the menacg. 0f bolshevism to and in western Europe bas dwindled from a political threat of the first magnitude to a nuisdnce. That it was once a real dangers, mm3 one who lived through the years from 1917 to 1924 in Europe can question. 1 still recall vividly that hour in thw Paris peace vonference When tne new of the seizure of Budapest bv Be Kun in the name of the R lution precivitated a panic hardiv less general than that which broke out 1 all allied natons wnen the German armies, apparently_irresistible, rolled on toward Paris. Nor was the agit tion much less when, a_little mo: than a vear later. the Red armies a proached the walls of Warsaw and ail central and eastern Europe seemed bound to be engulfed in the flood. Again, in the dark days of the Ruhr occupation. not vet five years ago, the misery and agony within Germany scemed a prelude to a new Red ex:, plosion. If one undertakes to analyze the’ decline of the Russian peril since 1923, nothing is clearer than that i, keeps_step with restoration in west- ern European states. The condition of the proletariat which Russian’ leaders sought to rally to class war has improved. By contrast today, it is only in Red Russia, the paradise of . the proletariat, that bread lines are again forming. Shun Russian Ideas. Politically, the consequences of this Russian failure are unmistakable. In Britain, in France, in Germany. the Labor party, the Socialists and Radi- cals have steadily drawn back from all association with the Russian idea. Support for the Russian revolution to- day is limited in all three countries to a mnoisy, numerically unimportant Communist group. On the eve of general elections in * France, Britain and Germany the Con- servatives in all three countries have adopted the same tactics. They have appreciated that no single charge could better serve them in the battle with the Liberals than the charge that they were the agents of Moscow. And, just as clearly, the Radical , groups are publicly and emphatically denying Russian association. As recently as five years ago bol shevism was dangerous because there existed in many if not all European, countries a st mass of people for’ whom the eries of the war had been continued by the agonies of a peace which was still a mockery. There was, in fact, the conviction that nothing could be worse than what e: isted and in this mood the appeal of bolshevism with its brilliant promises . was patent. s Today the condition of the masses in every European country has mot only vastly improved, but stands in unmistakable contrast to the situa- . tion of those other masses within his followers are dle-hard Communists; Stalin and his supporters advocate making those concessions to necessity which alone can permit the machine to work. Both are equally at war with capltalism, but Stalin would make use of capitalism to save the sinking cause of communism. Britain Is Blamed. In this situation one phenomenon commands attention. In recent months “|every agency of Russian publicity has been devoted to creating the convic- tion within Russia that the Western nations, under British guidance, are planning a new war of aggression. The masses are aroused, and their hatred of the foreigner is stimulated. No charge could be less warranted. No Western nation is today capable of financing such a war. Obviously the Russian strategy rep- resents a despairing effort to fix do- mestic attention upon foreign dangers, to distract attention from a universal national misery. I have talked with many Germans, Poles and others in recent days. Among them there seems to be a gen- eral agreement that the Red regime is facing a severe crisis and that it will be able to surmount it only if it can obtain a loan abroad. Successful in this direction, bolshevism may hold on and the changes which will come will arrive slowly-and by evolution. Peng- ing negotiation of the loans it is patent that the bolshevists must stave off a The discovery of the dinosaur eggs in the Shabarakh Usu Desert of Mon- golia means much more to the world of science than the fact that they may now be viewed in a glass case in the dinosaur hall of the American Mu- seum of Natural History. By means of the eggs the ancient climatic his- tory of that part of the world may be read more easily. And as climate is always a basic factor in economic progress, the prehistoric story of early animals and early man may more easily be deduced. As Frederick K. Morris, one of the geologists of the Central Asiatic expe- ditions of the museum, explains, the dinosaur eggs form part of the evi- dence of the beginning of a gradual change in climate from the warm wet of lush, swampy country to desert aridity. The torrid swamp lands were a paradise for the large dinosaurs. But with the gradual drying up of the country these giant reptiles, in spite of their size, found themselves unable to cope with the situation and slowly died out. The approach of aridity foretold the beginning of the end of the living conditions of the dinosaurs of that period. The swamps were replaced by upland conditions and arid to semi-arid climate and the giant reptiles by small, light, rather speedy dinosaurs. It was this smaller species that laid the eggs. It had long been known that this change in climate took place with its resulting change in fauna. But the dinosaur eggs helped geologists fix the approximate date of the beginning of this change, at least in Central Asia. And the eggs contributed this evidence by the manner of their preservation. They were preserved in sand. Such sand, so bedded, meant the encroach-l ment of marching dunes on the rook- | eries where the dinosaurs nested. The eggs, it was found, had been lightly crushed by a force so:slight | that it had not completely disrupted the inner lining of the shell under the hard outer shell. The outer shell had been cracked, but the fragments had remained in place, sticking to the in- ner lining which was evidently almost intact. Only one force could crack the eggs without breaking them and that was the gradually growing weight of sand blown by the wind. The weight of sand blown over the eggs would slowly become sufficient to crack the outer shell and puncture the inner lining without much displacing | it. Grains of sand would sift inside the eggs through the punctures till the eggs were .completely filled and were solld enough to withstand all further pressure without breaking. The decision that the were those of dinosaurs was u:a-god by a Lizaah Russia. New Line of Attack. e -It is the realization of this change ™ in Europe which has in the recent " years moved bolshevism to a news line of attack. Renouncing the hope,, of precipitating the world revolution directly in Europe, it has undertaken' to stimulate European unrest by rous- - ing Asia and Africa against the West. . In China, in India, in Syria, in Moroc., . co, it has, not without startling su cess, fomented and aided native un '’ rest. And its success has been, in part, due to the fact that it has been, exploiting misery, economic and po ntical disarray. But if the Chinese affair has dealt' a heavy blow to the British, in the: end, China has failed to adopt Mos cow. Moreover, in Britain, even the’ Labor party has perceived the direct'” relation between the employment of:s the masses which make up its ranks and the sale of British goods on the Chinese market. . Thus, 10 years after, this new chal- ©* lenge from Russia is not in fact a danger to Europe. but a manifesta. . tion of the new unrest in Russ which threatens to overthrow b shevism. Bolshevism, not beihgé® strong enough to face such a foree 1 directly, diverts the attention of its_ country to foreign affairs, with the © hope that in the meantime it shall & be able to borrow money and yet-s save itself. . (Covyright, 1027.) o Dinosaur Eggs in Mongolién Desert Aid Science in Prehistoric Endeavors process of elimination. Dinosaurs, be o ing reptiles, laid eggs. But so did,. the birds and tortoises of that period. It was deduced, however, that the’* eggs could have been laid only by*’ dinosaurs, as the only skeletons ofs; egg-laying animals found near the . eggs were dinosaur skeletons and there were many of those. No bones * of birds were found in that spot and none of tortoises except little frag- » ments, while there were countless,, dinosaur skeletons. Prehistoric bird bones have been discovered in other places, while everywhere else i Mon-3 golia tortoise bones have survived and«s their eggs have not, showing that,, where the creatures were present their bones have remained. It is unthink-™ able that their delicate eggs should'® survive while their bones were derg stroyed. ke Thus those eggs left so long ago by ~ the female dinosaur were filled with sand, buried and lost. As ages passed they were fossilized. ound at lastiz by man, they now, thanks to science,,; point the way to still further knowl- edge of the history of the earth. . Gondoliers Granted Plea for Rate Raise , Perhaps the only thing which has officially increased in price during the present Italian government campaign to lower the cost of Lving is the gon- dolier’s tariff in Venice. And the curious result is that now tourists pay less for their gondola rides than before. Kor years the Venetian au- thorities waged war agalnst the gon dollers to oblige them to observe thery official tariff of 10 lire an hour (a lira, is mow worth about 4 cents. ki, these tough gentry are beyond the " control of any power, human or &i: vine. They decided their price was 0 lire, and generally got it. In despair the authorities consented 190 a 15lira rate. The gondoliers ac:'® cepted, and now the tourist may ‘e ;e-lly vide for the official price-—wes T, o¥ Four thousand girl and boy violini: played in an orchestra at Crys Palace, Belfast, when the Natio Union of School Orchestras held their annual festival recently. a8 oot e t By use of a new device small electri¢ heaters placed in the vestibules of & street cars keep the windows free from.y snow and ice, thus giving the motor:. man a clear vision,